


Years of Stone

by stupidnephilimlove



Series: ficletinstruments [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Curses, First Meetings, M/M, Salvor Alec Lightwood, myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 07:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20467283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidnephilimlove/pseuds/stupidnephilimlove
Summary: Alexander Lightwood has been searching for the wreck of the Alicante for seven years, but the story of the statue on board when the ship sank has enthralled him far longer.Is today the day Alec finally finds the man trapped in stone?





	Years of Stone

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**  
Underwater Meeting  
Painting by Ian Rayer Smith.

Alec adjusts his mask as he swims through the murky depths, the flashlight in his hand illuminating his way. It's here. It _has_ to be. 

Seventeen years he's been obsessed with the Alicante, a trading ship that went down in the summer of 1645. Seven years of researching, of scouring scraps of journals until his vision blurred, of plotting courses, factoring in weather, of endless dives hoping this is the day. 

Well, today _is_ the day. What's different? He couldn't say, but there's this feeling in his gut telling him she's down here waiting for Alec to find her. 

It's not the ship that Alec wants though; it's her cargo. One specific item: A statue of a man. Who the replica is based on, Alec's never been able to identify despite his extensive research. But something has always drawn him to the legend; the story of a man trapped in stone and cursed to spend eternity at the bottom of the ocean.

Alec shakes off a sudden bout of uneasiness and adjusts his grip on the flashlight. Just off to the left, the light passes over a large shape. Alec twists, changing direction, his heart beating wildly with excitement and he struggles to regulate his breathing. 

A figure comes into view, rising out of the seafloor as he gets closer. It's stone. A statue. 

It's _ him._

Alec shines the light on the object he's spent years searching for and brushes his fingers over the statue's jaw. Beautiful. Stunning. Can this really be an accurate depiction of the original subject? The detail is incredible. So lifelike it isn't difficult to understand how the stories were inspired.

_Who was he?_ It's a question Alec still can't answer, and it frustrates him.

Reluctant to leave, but cautious of his oxygen levels, Alec carefully drops a weight to the floor and inflates the buoy attached to it, watching it float up towards the surface.

It takes two days to prepare for the salvage, and Alec wrings his hands as he listens to the mechanical whir as the statue ascends from the ocean floor.

It breaks the surface, hoisted into the air off the port of the boat. The water runs in rivulets off the statue, grey and dirty, as it's swung onto the deck, and... something isn't right. The water continues to flow and the statue - Alec's life's work - disintegrates before his eyes.

It happens too quickly to call out, too quickly to make sense of the way stone morphs into flesh, the way rigid limbs suddenly have movement.

_ Fuck._ He's lost his mind, spent too much time underwater, but he moves on instinct as the revealed man crumples to the deck.

Voice rough, the man looks up at Alec with wide eyes, and asks, "Who art thee?" 

"Alec Lightwood," Alec replies, before asking the question back.

"M-Magnus Bane."

And finally, Alec has an answer to the question that's haunted him half his life. _Magnus Bane._ The man at the bottom of the ocean.


End file.
